P8 Twin Motor "dead"

[Cevoli21]

Returned from 7 days away. Went to the car (2022 P8 Twin Motor pr with 3,900 miles on the clock) to find it completely unresponsive. Nothing whatsoever. Managed to get in using the emergency key via the passenger door. Very helpful technician arrived via Volvo On Call. The 12v battery is showing less than 2v. It would not take a charge from his booster pack, my booster pack or jump leads connected to his van. It got to a maximum of 7v and then discharged. It had been used extensively in the few days before we went abroad. Car is in the garage and potentially very difficult to remove. He had never come across this issue before. One final try with jump leads from his van and this did give enough power to activate the systems and reverse out of the garage before it dies again. Now it starts to take power from the High Voltage battery as its supposed to do and things start to return. However there are still numerous system errors including to the SOS call system which has a battery of its own - also completely flat. This was recharged but the error remained. However no error codes showing on his laptop when plugged into the car. A bit of a mystery. He thinks its a failed cell in the 12v battery but who knows. It is now with the local Volvo dealer awaiting investigation on Monday. It is drivable but with errors in various systems. Timeline so far. Called Volvo On Call 0915. Technician arrived 1220. Technician left 1550 after following me to the local dealer and driving me home again. Now 1825 and still waiting to hear from Enterprise regarding the replacement vehicle.
So at the moment dont know what the problem is. Has anyone else has similar issues. Will update once more information available

[Andy40]

One of the lads at work has one - he had an issue few months back where the car would not accept a charge - light went green, then failed. No matter what he tried, no luck.

Called Volvo and tech arrived - saying this is the 3rd one he’d been to that day (1 was a polestar), reset something under the bonnet and it worked. Been fine ever since..

[Cevoli21]

It appears to be that the 12v battery under the bonnet did not or would not charge. If I understand it correctly it should charge from the high voltage drive battery if its charge level drops. The small communication battery under the rear seat was also flat. One other oddity was that even though the car was locked the chargeport was not locked.

[Deleted User 3629]

Really only two events do what you have explained - a power drain somewhere or failed battery - and probably it's the latter as it won't hold a charge, meaning a failed cell

[MoniaiveBoy]

XC40 Recharge Twin...

Went to my car today and couldn't unlock the Pod Point charge port but it wouldn't unlock using the charge port button. Tried using the key to unlock but no joy, car wouldn't unlock..!

Reluctant to use the emergency key as it was early on a Sunday morning and suspected I'd set off the alarm. I'm aware I could have reset the alarm by putting the key in the interior stowage box, press the brake and engage drive. Didn't have any plans to use the car today, so didn't try the emergency procedure.

I've reported the problem via 'Volvo on Call'; have a Volvo engineer's visit tomorrow morning.

I'll report the outcome, but I suspect a dodgy 12v battery.....!

[Cevoli21]

Just to update this. Nothing abnormal found. Apparently the 12v battery is fine, as is everything else. Some sort of explanation about how it charges the batteries which to be honest sounded very improbable. We will see how it goes. Due to be away again in a few weeks. I suspect we may well be revisiting this issue.

[Deleted User 3629]

Wow - it's shocking to hear how a modern car can present you with a total electrical failure, and all is ok - how are we meant to trust these things!!!

[Cevoli21]

Wow - it's shocking to hear how a modern car can present you with a total electrical failure, and all is ok - how are we meant to trust these things!!!

Certainly is. Clearly all is not right with it still. This morning a flashing "safety warning" appeared on the centre screen. It was flashing too rapidly to read what the problem actually was. Then a warning to reinstall google maps. However could not get rid of the warning to try the reinstall! Eventually managed to do this more by luck than judgement and both messages have gone - for now. Normal service now resumed but for how long? Still waiting for dealer to ring back.

[Cevoli21]

So now we have further issues with charging. The car is ignoring any settings in the charging screen. No control over maximum charge - it seems to be stuck at 80% max. Not a problem at the moment as no plans for long trips in the near future. Timer has no effect. Charging starts as soon as it is plugged in. Using the app makes no difference but I can set the charge times via the wall box.
Our local dealer says this is a known issue and a software update is imminent. No idea of time frame.Ours is on V2.3. Looking online V2.4 was released on 24th October and includes "stability improvements for charging and scheduled charging". Hopefully this will be the one. Usually updates appear on ours a couple of weeks after release. There does not seem to be any way to force it to download. Fingers crossed!

[Cevoli21]

Hopefully now able to finish this thread! Still no update but a forced reboot of the android system seems to have solved the issue. Turns out that a prolonged press on the home button - maybe 60 seconds - causes the system to reboot. Why didn't Volvo suggest trying this? Now seems to be back to normal. I guess we need to think of these cars as overgrown computers. If it doesn't respond as expected force it to shut down and try again.
Onwards and upwards - well at least until the next issue appears